"The grandchild is beloved, a noble descendant, one's descendant, a jewel, a precious feather.
The child resembles the family in appearance and works. The good grandchild is a living likeness, an ixiptla, an image of
the family. The grandchild provides fame and glory; the child buds, the child blossoms."

`Cronica
Mexicayotl'

Thus they have come to tell it,Thus they have come to record it in their
narration,And for us they have painted it in their codices,The ancient men, the ancient women.

Their
account was repeated,They left it to us;They bequeathed it foreverTo us who live now,To us who come down from
them.

Never will it be lost, never will it be forgotten,That which they came to do,That which they came to
record in their paintings:Their renown, their history, their memory.

Thus in the futureNever will it perish,
never will it be forgotten,Always we will treasure it,We, their children, their grandchildren,Brothers, great-grandchildren,Great-great
grandchildren, Descendants,We who carry their Blood and their Color,We will tell it, we will pass it onTo those
who do not yet live, who are yet to be born,The children of the Mexicans, the children of the Tenochcans.

Alvarado
Tezozomoc: `Cronica Mexicayotl'

And these little women (cioatzintli) who died in childbirth,
those said to become mociuaquetzque, when they died, they said to have become goddesses (in jquac oonmjc in
qujtoa oonteu).

And the midwife spoke to the dying woman:

«Go, accompany our Mother, our Father, The Sun!
(in tonan, in tota, tonatiuh) May his older sisters, the ciuapipiltin, the celestial women, bring thee to him
/---/ For thou will forever live, be glad, be content near (om jnnaoac)[and] by our goddesses, the ciuapipiltin
(totecujiooan cioapipilti), and already thou livest by [and] near our lord (inao intinemj in totecujo)
for already thou beholdest the lord. /---/

when yet
no sun had shone and no dawn had broken .... it is said ...And they debated who would bear the burden, who would
carry on his back - would become - the sun. /---/One of them Tecuciztecatl who was there spoke: 'O gods
I shall be the one.'Again the gods spoke: /---/ who else? /---/And not present was one man (ce
tlacatl) Nanahuatzin ... listening among the others. They said to him: Thou shalt be the one, O Nanahuatzin.

For
these two, for each on singly, a hill was made (cecentetl intepeuh muchiuh). They are now called pyramids (tetepe
tzacuilli) - the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon (itzacuil tonatiuh, yoan itzacoal metztli).
/---/There they remained, performing penances for four nights. /---/ at the time of the lifting [of the penance],
they were to do their labour (tlacolozque), they were to become gods (teutizque). /---/The
gods spoke: Take courage, O Tecuciztecatl, fall - cast thyself - into the fire. /---/ Four times he tried ... he
could cast himself no more. /---/ thereupon they cried out to Nanahuatzin: Onward, thou, O Nanahuatzin. Take heart!All
at once he quickly threw and cast himself upon [the fire].And when Tecuciztecatl saw that already he burned,
then, afterwards he cast himself upon [the fire]. Thereupon he also burned.And when the sun came to rise.
/---/ Intensely did he shine, his brilliant rays penetrated everywhere.And afterwards Tecuciztecatl came to rise
following behind him from the same place - the east.And so they tell it: Exactly equal had they become in
their appearances as they shone.Then one of the gods came out running. With a rabbit he came to wound in the face
this Tecuciztecatl; with it he darkened his face. Thus doth it appear today.When both appeared [over the earth]
together, they could - not move nor follow their paths. /---/ So once again the gods spoke: /---/ through us the sun
may be revived. Let us all die.Thus the sun cometh forth once, and spendeth the whole day [in his work];
and the moon undertaketh the night's task; he worketh all night.

Here endeth this legend and fable, which was told in times past, and was in the keeping of
the old people.» (FC, Book III: 1, VII: 4-8)

we shall /---/ establish ourselves and settle down, and we shall conquer
all peoples of the universe; and /---/ I will make you lords and kings of all that is in the world; and when you become rulers,
you shall have countless and infinite numbers of vassals, who will pay you tribute /---/ precious stone, gold, quetzal feathers
/---/ and multicoloured cacao and cotton; and all this you shall see, since this is in truth my task, and for this have I
been sent here. (Davies 1977: 10)

The story of Huitzilopochtli's miraculous «birth» [from Sahagún's FC Books I and III]:

The following they believed of his beginning. /---/ At Coatepec, near
Tollan, /---/ there lived a woman (cihoatl) named (itoca) Coatl icue, mother (innan)
of the Centzonhuitznaua [the four hundred from the south or southerners] /---/ And their elder sister (auh inveltiuh
itoca) Coiolxahquj. /---/ (FC, Book III: 1). And this Coatl icue performed penances /---/ sweeping [in the
temple] at Coatepetl. /---/ a ball of feathers descended upon her /---/ which she /---/ placed in her bosom (en
el seno junto a la barriga). Thereupon Coatl icue conceived. (Quetzalcoatl is in some stories also said to have
been miraculously conceived - a virgin birth. FC, Book III: 1, notes 4, 5)

Now her other children were angry with the mother:

she hath affronted us, we must slay our mother, the wicked one who is
already with child. Who is the cause of what is in her womb?

Cotl icue became frightened /---/ And her child who was in her womb
spoke to her «Have no fear (maca ximomauhti); already I know (ie ne nicmati) /---/ (FC, Book
III: 2). And the Centzonnuitznaua /---/ prepared themselves for war /---/ Thereupon they set forth; they went in order,
in columns, in armed display moving with deliberation. Coyolxauhquj led them. /---/

But Quauitl idae [their uncle i.e. Coatlicue's
brother probably] warned Huitzilopochtli all along their advancement /---/ When he asked «watch where they now come.» /---/
Finally Quazitl said: «At last they are coming up here, at last they reach here. Coyolxauhquj cometh ahead of them.»

/---/ struck off her head. Then he pursued the four hundred [brothers]
and killed them /---/ few escaped the hands of Uitzilopochtli /---/. (FC, Book III: 4)

The migration story of the Aztecs
is summarised from different versions shaped over long times and based on political facts and fantasies along with religious
visions. On Huitzilopochtli's order they changed their name from Aztecs (Aztlan was the name of their mythical point of departure)
to «Mexica». He told them: «Now you shall not call yourselves Aztecs any more, now you are Mexicans.» And his gifts
to the people were the arrow (mitl), the bow (tlahuitolli), the spear-thrower (atlatl) and the «little
net» (chitatli) (Davies 1977: 7; see also Tezozomoc 1949: 23; cf. Molina 1944: 22 chitatli 'redezilla para lleuar
de como por el camino').

The people few in number was led by four priest-leaders (teomamas) i.e. «bearers of the
god»:

They had an idol [sic!] called Huitzilopochtli, who was borne
by four guardians who served him; to these he spoke very secretly of the events of their route and journey, telling them of
all that was to happen. And this idol was held in such awe and reverence that no one else but they dared to approach or touch
it. (Davies 1977: 8)